I know you’ll find love again

Three weeks without an update.  I am still alive, yes, I am.  But what a busy three weeks it has been!!  Don’t worry, I won’t bore you with the nitty-gritty of what all I have been doing; it loses quite a lot in the retelling.

It all started with a visit from my friend’s mom.  Somehow she and I get along very, very well, and she thought it’d be fun to come down and go to the beach.  The problem is, two days beforehand, Grace had come down completely randomly with a stomach bug.  Poor kid.  I felt so badly for her, but there was nothing I could do.  She couldn’t keep anything down — not water, not clear soda, nothing.  It got to the point where she absolutely refused to put anything in her mouth because it would make her sick.  But she was a real trooper about it all.

Then ME came down with the stomach bug the day my friend’s mom was to arrive.  I hadn’t been sure if she was going to come after all, so I didn’t think to call her.  When she arrived, I told her of the situation, and she said that since she had had six kids, it wouldn’t bother her to stay — at long as it was no imposition on me.  I was glad of her company; I was trying to do everything in my power to prevent myself from catching the Stomach Bug of Doom.

Unfortunately, Kurt wasn’t so lucky, and ended up racing to the bathroom at 5am the next morning.  I told my friend’s mom we couldn’t go to the beach; I didn’t want to do anything that I couldn’t get home in a hurry in case Kurt needed me.

Yes, I left Kurt alone while he was sick.  Honestly, he threw me out of the house.  He doesn’t really like being fussed over when he’s sick like that.  When he’s just got a cold or some such, he enjoys the pampering, as do we all.  But when he’s that kind of sick, he wants to be left to his own devices.  I can’t blame him.  He made me leave the baby with him too; he figured since they were both sick, they could keep each other company.  He didn’t really throw up much, but he felt like absolute crap all day Saturday — which worried me because he had to leave on a business trip early on Sunday morning.  Fortunately by Saturday night he was feeling much better.

So instead of the beach, I took my friend’s mom down to Brenton Point State Park, which is always a good time, but was even more fun because there was a kite fair going on.  I love that place.  It’s right at the tip of the island, and gets all the crazy winds coming off the Atlantic Ocean, making it the perfect place to fly kites.  There are always kite-flyers there, and it’s always a lovely thing to watch.  We went down on the rocks and watched the waves break against the shoreline, getting fairly wet in the process, before making our way back to the park and taking in the kite fair.  Grace was able to make her own miniature kit, and she was so cute in her new dress and her cowboy boots and cowboy hats that one of the coordinators had to take a photo of her.

The very next day, as Kurt flew down to Virginia on a business trip, my high school buddy and his wife (who write jointly over at Mixed Drinks With Dr. Pepper, he as The Pedant and she as Sherbs) arrived for a visit.  They currently live in northern Virginia, not far from where The Pedant and I attended high school lo those many years ago.

I tell you what, The Pedant and Sherbs are the kind of guests you want to have.  I was so sad to see them leave after only four days together!  They realized that with Kurt gone, I couldn’t do a whole lot with them because it was just not child-friendly.   So one day they went off to do the mansions, while another day we all visited the one property that is fun for kids — the Green Animals Topiary Garden.  Of course, it was about a million degrees with high humidity the day we went, but the kids handled it well, and they loved running along all the paths to see all the pretty flowers.  And eventually, Sherbs and I found a lovely spot in the shade, where we sat and chatted for a while as The Pedant played with the kids.

Not only were they wonderful with my kids, but they both love to cook!  One night for dinner, I made this amazing asparagus and herb lasagna that was quite a bit of work to put together, but oh so worth it in the end.  And another night, all three of us worked together to make this delicious dinner that involved wrapping fresh chard leaves (from their CSA — so you know it was fresh) around feta and cooking it with garlic and wine.  I enjoyed it so much that I’m planning on making it for Kurt this week!  Except the chard I bought from the farmer’s market on Saturday went bad by Monday, so I’ll have to buy another bunch from the farmer’s market on Thursday.

But having the kids all day to myself plus having houseguests did begin to take its toll, and I seriously needed a break.  Fortunately a good friend of mine here agreed to take the kids off my hands, and The Pedant, Sherbs, and I had a lovely ADULT dinner at a local French bistro.  The food was simply amazing.  I don’t want you taunt you with it, but tell you what — you come visit me here and I’ll take you there.  Bring some moolah, though; the place ain’t cheap.  It’s beyond worth it, though.

Beyond having houseguests back-to-back and fighting off the Stomach Bug of Doom (which I did manage to escape, thank the lord almighty), I haven’t been doing much.  Generally I have been stepping away from the computer more and more, hence my lack of commenting, for which I apologize, and instead I’ve been diving headfirst into my reading.  My friend’s mom brought me three books to read, one of which was a volume of Reader’s Digest Condensed Books.  I devoured three of the works inside, one of which was a condensed version of Pearl S. Buck’s My Several Worlds, which she wrote about growing up in early 20th century China as the daughter of American missionaries.  It’s  fascinating look at that country, from a time before the Communists took over, and it makes one realize how much has been lost because of Communism.  That’s not to say that imperial China was perfect — not in the least.  But it used to be a much different nation.

And speaking of reading, I think it’s time to get back to my current novel, Lady of the Snakes by Rachel Pastan.  It’s such an engaging read that I’ve read 113 pages since yesterday, and it’s why I didn’t manage to get to sleep till after 2am last night.  Oops.  I’ll just have to catch a nap later today.  Oh darn.